James Douglas III came to Howard Payne from D-I Lamar University in the spring of 2025 after serving as a Cardinals’ assistant wide receivers coach for two seasons (2023-2024).

At Lamar, Coach Douglas helped build the Lamar offense into one of the best in the conference while developing two 500+ receivers in one season and an all-conference receiver as well. 

Before Lamar, Coach Douglas spent two seasons at Briar Cliff University as a receivers’ coach producing two of the top ten receivers in school history as well as three all conference receivers.

As a player, Douglas was recognized multiple times as an All-Conference receiver and return specialist. He was the NACC Offensive Player of the Year and a D-III All-Region honoree at Eureka College in 2019 and 2020. In 2024, he was a member of the 2018 football team that was inducted into the Eureka College Hall of Fame.

James holds master's degrees from Lamar University (2024) and Briar Cliff University (2022), and bachelor's degrees from Eureka College (2020).